


Brave Enough to Run

by shnuffeluv



Series: Danger Gays: The Extras [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Christmas, Dysfunctional Family, Family Dinners, Gen, Missing Persons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:14:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21865075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/shnuffeluv
Summary: Toby reflects on Remy at the first Christmas dinner where no one in the family knows where he is.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: Danger Gays: The Extras [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1462492
Comments: 16
Kudos: 57





	Brave Enough to Run

Toby sighed and checked his phone for the thousandth time in the past ten minutes. He had changed his number shortly after Thanksgiving, before he had gotten Remy’s moving address, and he was banking on Remy showing up for Christmas so that they could talk and exchange numbers. He was all ready to help Remy plan a story for what he’d been doing at college to keep their parents off his back. He was ready to field all Mom’s anger if Remy activated a tripwire. Because it wasn’t a clear boundary that he ever crossed, it was always something small that shouldn’t bug Mom that set her off.

But Remy hadn’t shown up. And Fairview was a ways away, but it was now seven in the evening. Remy had taken himself off the family plan, so Toby couldn’t call and ask where he was. And their whole family was starting to gossip about why he might not be showing up.

“You don’t think he’s hurt, do you?” Nate considered.

“I hope not,” Magenta fretted. “The roads aren’t too icy, he wouldn’t get into a car accident that way.”

Toby looked out the window of their house, hoping against hope that he’d see Remy walking out of their parents’ car. Because Dad had gone to pick him up, as they had talked about after the whole Thanksgiving debacle. Toby hoped that Remy would show up, would have a suitcase packed with clothes and he had waited outside the college’s dorms to be picked up. But at the same time, he hoped that Remy had ran away and never looked back. Much as it hurt to not be in contact with Remy, he would be safer if their parents didn’t know where he was, and couldn’t bring him back home.

Eventually, his dad drove up to the house and Nate and Magenta both breathed a sigh of relief. “Traffic must have just been bad,” Nate reasoned.

But even as they settled down, Toby kept straining to see if there was anybody other than Dad getting out of the car. Eventually, Dad walked in, and he looked...troubled. Toby held his breath. If Remy walked in, and Dad looked like that, then there was no way they  _ didn’t _ know he had dropped out of college. Mom walked over and asked, “Honey, where’s Remy?”

“He wasn’t there,” his dad said, looking at everyone in confusion.

Toby released his breath as quietly as possible, trying not to look relieved. Nate and Magenta both immediately started to worry again. Vanessa spoke up for the first time during all this. “What do you mean he wasn’t there?”

“He wasn’t at the campus,” Dad said. “I waited for an hour at where we were going to meet up. Eventually some students who came by knew Remy and has said they hadn’t seen him in a while. But he never showed.”

Mom looked livid and everyone else was either confused or worried. “You don’t think he got sick and had to go to the hospital?” Magenta asked.

“He better have, if he’s missing Christmas with us,” Mom spat.

Toby kept quietly observing. He knew that Remy’s college would have gotten out before today, had he still been attending. He knew that he had set Dad up. He knew...Remy wasn’t coming back. Not for anything, not ever again. And honestly, if Toby were brave enough to admit it to himself, he was a little jealous of the guts Remy had to take that chance. The fact that he was brave enough to run. He hoped that Remy’s roomie...what was his name...he knew it started with an E...whatever. He hoped that Remy’s roomie was keeping up with their agreement, whatever it was, to split rent and live off-campus. He didn’t like the thought of Remy ending up homeless, and that roomie just moving back into the college dorms should something not work out.

“I don’t think...anything warrants wishing someone were in the hospital,” Magenta weakly said.

“Yeah, that seems to cross a line,” Nate agreed.

Mom snarled. “He was acting out over Thanksgiving, this better not be a continuation of that! The only acceptable reason for him not being there were if he were sick someplace!”

“Uh, actually...Mom...I’m with the twins on this one,” Toby spoke up. “Wishing Remy were in the hospital is kinda...not great. No matter the reason. It’s okay to, like, want him here, or be upset that he’s not, but maybe... _ don’t _ wish that he was in the hospital?”

Vanessa shot Toby a warning glance but Toby ignored her. If no one else was going to stand up for his baby brother, he would, without hesitation.

Mom stared long and hard at him and he just stared back, making sure his face was neutral enough to not give away anything. He moved his hands up into a classic “What do you want from me?” gesture. Mom huffed. “He’d still have a good reason for not being here.”

“I’m sure he does, Mom,” Toby said. “But since he’s not here, and he’s apparently not coming home tonight at least, should we move on and have dinner?”

Everyone reluctantly agreed and Toby made sure to stay mostly quiet for the duration of dinner. He spoke when spoken to, and occasionally asked a question or two of his own, but he kept quiet. And, like what had happened to Remy at Thanksgiving, his grandparents noticed. “You’re awfully quiet, Toby,” his grandmother said conversationally.

Toby knew that tone, and knew that this was anything but small talk. “Am I?” he asked. “Sorry. I guess I just miss Remy. I was hoping to talk to him about college and maybe ask him some advice on where to look for a job. After all, taking nearly a full semester of business, he must have learned a  _ few _ things.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about where he went?” Mom asked. “You were the one to talk him into seeing sense at Thanksgiving.”

Toby shrugged. “Sorry, Mom. I just told him what I normally do whenever he gets worked up. I have no clue where he went. He must have stayed around Fairview, considering he doesn’t have a car.”

Mom hummed and Toby sincerely hoped he hadn’t just given her any ideas. “I’ll call his dorm after winter break, and hopefully someone there knows where he is, so he can explain himself,” she said with a definitive nod.

_ You do that, _ Toby thought.  _ Just leave him alone if you do find him and he asserts boundaries. _

He knew that was wishful thinking. But Toby willed himself to stay hopeful. Maybe he could find someone he knew in Fairview and he could get them to ask around about Remy. Maybe he could mail him something that way. He thought about the birthday present he had gotten Remy; it was a small set of cooking utensils in case he decided he wanted to make something that required actual cooking and wasn’t just instant ramen. He would keep it on him, just in case he found out where Remy was. And he resolved that he would continue trying to find little things that Remy might like, in the hopes that he could send a care package at one point. Once he knew Remy’s address, everything would get better.

He just hoped he found it before Mom did.

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